Lucky

As a Good Samaritan drove to his sales appointment on one of the coldest winter days in upstate New York, he noticed cars dodging around something in the middle of the highway.

Looking further, he was shocked to discover a small black kitten being blown around by passing cars. The staunch animal lover quickly pulled his car over and tried to grab the kitten which ran under his car and couldn't be reached. Right then, an eighteen wheel truck drove by blasting his horn and forcing the man to momentarily take his eyes off the kitten. When he looked back under the car, the kitten was gone. Distraught, the Good Samaritan looked everywhere, checking under the car, kicking the tires and knocking on the hood. With no success in finding the kitten, he drove on to his sales appointment.

After work, the man returned with his wife and looked for the kitten, but left having no luck this time as well. Pulling their car into a store, they smelled something funny and decided to check under the hood. To both their amazement, there was the kitten lying on the engine trying to keep warm!

Not sure if the kitten would survive, they immediately headed to the veterinarian. Estimated to be about six months old and weighing only three and a half pounds, the kitten, properly named Lucky, was dehydrated and malnourished with an upper respiratory infection and two infected eyes. He was given a 1% chance of survival.

The Ian Somerhalder Foundation was contacted for a Medical Emergency Grant three days after Lucky was rescued. Together, we at the Foundation held our breath along with Lucky’s new family hoping he would pull through. Lucky was fed with an eye dropper to help him get the nourishment he needed. He had fluid injections, antibiotic shots, drops in his eyes and ears along with other medications. Slowly, he began to come around and was able to eat on his own.

With the tremendous love and dedication from his new forever family, Lucky has made a full recovery. Not only did he survive one of the coldest winter nights in Buffalo's history, he also survived multiple near-miss hits by passing cars plus a 45 minute ride on a car's engine! As Lucky healed, his lovable, playful and mischievous

side quickly came out. He is a source of constant joy in his new home snuggling in blankets, having all the food he could ever want plus tons of human and canine companionship.